


Gemini

by nh8343



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 12:30:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10876830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nh8343/pseuds/nh8343
Summary: When what should have been a routine mission unearths a cherry-blossom memory Seungcheol would rather forget, he’s left with the burden of piecing together his past and his future. If gun-toting terrorists don’t kill him first.





	Gemini

**Author's Note:**

> [Cross-posted from AFF] Written for (and winner of) the svteditors contest for prompt #3: ‘Write an AU (alternate universe) story based on the topic “Seventeen members must defeat the enemy’.”

 

_ Of all days _ , Seungcheol thinks to himself,  _ why did Hansol pick  _ today _ to try a corkscrew turn? _

 

He loves the helicopter pilot, but there’s a right time for new aerial maneuvers, and it’s not when Seungcheol and his team are en route to the most important mission of their careers.

 

The agency they work for, PLDS, is a government task force that eliminates international threats before they spiral out of control. Their current target: Orthrus, a rogue organization dealing in everything from illegal arms trafficking to assassinations. They received a tip-off yesterday that the building in front of them holds an electronic record of every Orthrus base location, and their task is to retrieve it at any cost.

 

One look at the number of guards, however, and Seungcheol isn’t exactly confident about their odds.

 

He presses a finger to his earpiece. “We’re going to need backup,” he says. “There’s more than we expected.”

 

A familiar voice sounds through the static. “Not if you believe in the power of teamwork!”

 

“Seokmin, I’m serious. We need help.”

 

He hears a chuckle that’s entirely too cheery for the situation. “Oh, Seungcheol, you’re overreacting again. Call me if you’re bleeding out on the floor, but I believe in you. Bye!”

 

The connection is cut before Seungcheol can respond.

 

_ Every. Single. Time. _

 

He turns to his team, seeing Minghao, Jeonghan and Soonyoung’s faces looking expectantly back at him.

 

“We’re on our own,” he says to no one’s surprise. “Jeonghan, get us in?”

 

Their resident con man gives him a nod, and in the blink of an eye he’s at the entrance, schmoozing up the guards with an easy grin. It’s almost scary to Seungcheol how natural it is.

 

Jeonghan returns a minute later, stolen passkey held between two fingers.

 

“This should get us in through maintenance,” he tells them, and as luck would have it, it works.

 

Minghao hacks past the inner security door, finishing almost faster than humanly possible. He might not speak much, but with computers? The kid’s a whiz.

 

They’re less lucky when they make it to the heart of the hideout. They must have tripped a silent alarm, because the door opens to reveal ten rogue fighters with guns trained on the agents.

 

Seungcheol yells out a “take cover!”, but the others are already moving, diving behind furniture so they can safely fire at the enemy. Soonyoung, as always, leads the assault, every shot as quick as it is lethal. One of the first things Seungcheol learned about his teammate was to never get on his bad side; this is precisely why.

 

Soonyoung rushes out of cover when there’s two men left standing. He slides across the floor as he fires once, twice in deadly procession. Silence encapsulates the room.

 

Or at least it does for a minute, until a celebratory cheer bursts from Minghao’s mouth as he finds their target: the computer containing the key to Orthrus’s downfall. The others watch as he downloads it to a USB drive, running the files through a decryption of his own design. They’ve done it.

 

Then something beyond the computer catches Seungcheol’s eye, and he freezes.

 

On his right, he hears Soonyoung ask, "Is...is that  _ Jihoon _ ?”

 

The young man passed out on the floor is frailer than he remembers, hair now dyed a pale cherry blossom pink, but is unmistakably the piece of Seungcheol’s past that he’s tried so hard to forget.

 

_ Jihoon. _

 

The flashback hits Seungcheol like a punch to the stomach.

 

~*~

 

**One Year Earlier.**

 

_ They finally have a breakthrough. As Seungcheol’s fingers fly over the keyboard, he allows excitement to consume him. In a few minutes, Orthrus’s resources will be cut off, crippling their operations long enough for PLDS to take them down. _

 

_ Soonyoung, Minghao, and Jeonghan are outside, keeping watch and awaiting news of his victory. If they can give him another minute… _

 

_ Another keystroke, and he’s in. _

 

_ “Jihoon,” he says to the other man in the room. “I’ve got it. If you want to watch me do the honors…” _

 

_ He trails off, not because he wasn’t intending to finish the sentence, but because there’s suddenly a cold press of metal against his head. _

 

_ “Step away from the computer,” a voice tells him. _

 

_ That’s strange. He swears that sounds like… _

 

_ He does what he’s told, and when he turns to face his attacker, the floor seems to drop out from under him. _

 

_ “...Jihoon?” _

 

_ His best friend looks like a stranger, the cold look in his eyes something that Seungcheol has never seen before. _

 

_ “Jihoon, what are you doing? We’ve almost--” _

 

_ “Stand back.” _

 

_ Jihoon keeps the gun aimed at Seungcheol’s head, reaching toward the keyboard. Seungcheol almost thinks he’s going to continue with the shutdown until Jihoon cancels the operation, rendering his work useless. He’s too shocked to speak. _

 

_ “Walk,” Jihoon commands, and almost like he’s sleepwalking, Seungcheol follows. _

 

_ The others freeze when they see them, not sure what to think until Jihoon tells them to leave and never come back. The threat is emphasized by another press of the pistol against Seungcheol’s temple. _

 

_ The normally quiet Minghao breaks his silence to ask the one question they’re all thinking. _

 

_ “But...why?” _

 

_ Jihoon’s only response is to curl his finger closer to the trigger. He doesn’t even look them in the eyes. _

 

_ PLDS loses an agent that day, but Seungcheol loses a best friend. _

 

~*~

 

Seungcheol is still in shock when they return to headquarters.

 

He walks past Wonwoo, who’s sitting behind the secretary desk, muttering as usual under his breath about his hatred for this job.

 

“Mingyu’s putting him into custody,” Wonwoo looks up to tell him, and Seungcheol acknowledges it with a nod.

 

He walks past the medical ward, where Junhui is fussing over anyone with injuries more serious than a papercut (and probably that, too, if asked). Minghao makes a beeline toward it, spouting a vague excuse that he’s pulled a muscle. Seungcheol has a theory that Minghao tolerates Junhui’s fussing simply for a few moments in the comfort of his mother tongue.

 

He walks past Jisoo on his way to the stairs, giving the intern a brief greeting. If Jisoo notices that Seungcheol’s heart isn’t in it, he doesn’t say anything, simply answering with that same soft smile.

 

Finally, he walks into Seungkwan’s office, and is met with a loud shout of “Chan, where is my coffee!?” followed by a much more controlled, “Oh, Seungcheol. Have a seat.”

 

His boss looks apologetic; that’s never a good sign.

 

“Seungcheol,” he says again, “There’s something we have to talk about.”

 

In the conversation that follows, Seungcheol almost refuses to believe the revelation that comes from his leader’s mouth: Jihoon never betrayed them.

 

“You’re lying,” he deadpans, head spinning.

 

Seungkwan looks dead serious. “I’m not. I was never aware; the command came from my superiors. Jihoon would gain Orthrus’s trust by appearing to betray us, then feed information directly to the government. He’s the source of the tip-off we used this morning.”

 

Seungcheol feels like he’s stepping off an edge he can’t see.

 

“I would’ve told you if I’d known,” Seungkwan continues. “Regulations aside, this was too cruel. But now...I’ve gotten an order to put Jihoon back on the team.”

 

“But--”

 

“I can’t refuse something from that high up. I’m sorry.”

 

It’s like some twisted mix of Seungcheol’s greatest dream and his worst nightmare.

 

~*~

 

Their first mission as five is tense and uncomfortable. Trying to piece the team back together is like trying to line up jagged shards of glass.

 

They’re at a location taken from Orthrus’s other base. It might not be their headquarters, Seungkwan had told him, but at the very least, it would be a teamwork exercise: something they were in dire need of. 

 

It doesn’t, in fact, turn out to be the headquarters. A few rogue fighters, but no sign of the ringleaders that pull the strings.

 

There  _ is _ a communications hub that Seungcheol isn’t expecting to come across. He and Jihoon find it before the others, and Seungcheol knows with one look that they’ve hit a jackpot.

 

Jihoon reaches forward to start the hack, but he’s stopped by Seungcheol’s hand on his arm.

 

“Wait,” the team leader tells him. “Minghao can do this better than any of us.”

 

“It’s a simple firewall. I’m perfectly capable of--”

 

“No.”

 

“Can’t you just trust me?”

 

Seungcheol can’t help it; he explodes.

 

“How can I ever trust you!? You lied and played me like a fool!”

 

Jihoon’s face darkens. “You think I  _ wanted _ this?” He demands. “I didn’t get a choice! How do you think it felt to live a lie? To deceive my closest friends, to be completely alone? Get it through your head, Seungcheol, that you’re not the only one who suffered!”

 

They don’t speak after that.

 

~*~

 

It takes another month for PLDS to pinpoint Orthrus’s headquarters. The mission is simple: get in, take out the ringleaders, get out.

 

Minghao, Jeonghan, and Soonyoung take point next to the ringleaders’ building, Seungcheol keeps watch from a rooftop, and Jihoon is on a ledge behind him, sniper rifle aimed at the window masking their targets.

 

Seungcheol almost wishes Hansol had tried another maneuver today; then he could chalk the nervous flutters in his stomach up to plane sickness.

 

“Move out,” he radios the three point men. “Jihoon and I will cover you.”

 

He gets an affirmative, and the line is silent for a minute before there’s another voice coming through the static. It’s Jihoon.

 

“Seungcheol, I’m going to take the shot, but there’s been a change of plans. Just...trust me on this, okay?”

 

A beat of hesitation. 

 

“It’s been a good ride,” Jihoon says before cutting the connection, and it takes Seungcheol two heartbeats to realize it’s a goodbye before he’s abandoning his post, sprinting across the rooftop like a madman.

 

Jihoon doesn’t turn his earpiece back on.

 

Time seems to stretch as Seungcheol runs to where Jihoon is lining up for his final shot. It feels like years until he sees that flash of cherry-blossom hair pressed low to the ground, crosshair trained across the gap.

 

“Jihoon, wait!” he yells, and it throws the other off long enough for Seungcheol to reach him, grabbing the weapon with both hands. Jihoon doesn’t let go.

 

“Let me do this!” Jihoon begs, and Seungcheol realizes there are tears on the marksman’s face. “Please...it’s too late to earn back your trust. If I shoot the fuel tanks, the ringleaders will be gone, and so will I. This is my redemption.”

 

“I can’t lose you.” Seungcheol doesn’t realize how true it is until the words are hanging between them. “I’m sorry I haven’t treated you like part of the team, I’m sorry that I’ve acted like we were never best friends. But Jihoon...as selfish as it is, I need you to stay.  _ Please _ , stay.”

 

Jihoon does something he’s never once done: he weeps. Small, broken sounds pour out of his mouth, and Seungcheol drops the rifle to wrap his arms around the other’s shaking form.

 

“I’m sorry,” Seungcheol repeats in a whisper. “I’ll make it up to you; I swear.”

 

Across the street, he hears the sounds of the team finishing what they’ve started, a lethal combination even without their leader. A final gunshot rings out, and Seungcheol feels in his bones that this is the end.

 

An enemy falls to pieces. A friendship begins to mend itself back together.

 

~*~

 

The atmosphere back at headquarters is ten times lighter in the wake of Orthrus’s demise. Seungcheol feels like he’s walking on air.

 

He walks past the front desk, where Wonwoo and Mingyu are yet again exchanging barbs.

 

(“Enjoying your desk job, blockhead?”

 

“Like you could protect anyone, you understuffed Beanie Baby.”)

 

He walks past the medical ward, where Junhui is ushering Minghao inside. Seungcheol hears something about a “slight dizzy spell” and his earlier theory is cemented.

 

He walks past Jisoo, who is animatedly asking Jeonghan something that sounds suspiciously like “So you  _ did _ love my cover of “Wonderwall”?”

 

He walks past Seungkwan and Seokmin in the lounge, the latter now being pulled away by Soonyoung to plot their next prank on the poor, unsuspecting intern. A fading “Chan, I  _ said _ , where is my coffee!?” trails behind Seungcheol as he leaves.

 

Jihoon is waiting for him.

 

“You want a glass?” the marksman offers, and a shot of soju has never looked as good as it does right now.

 

“Always,” Seungcheol replies with a smile, taking a seat beside his best friend.

 

The drinks taste like victory.

  
~END~


End file.
